How do you feel about bands_artists coming to your town to play an e.g. just 70-minute set, while having to pay a good amount of money to see 'em onstage? Well, the 54-year-old guitarist visited Athens, Greece for the third time and this was no-doubt the most exciting trip for us. Ex-SCOPRIONS legendary guitarist Uli Jon Roth performed for nearly three hours in front of (how many, really?) heads and who would complain for something more_else, judging from the timeline and the setlist?

Walking in Fuzz Club's arena not a well-packed venue did I witness. Thankfully, as it was (gradually) time for the respected artist to hit the stage, more and more people were storming in to get a good view on the stage. most of them were present to honor the man's inheritance during his SCORPIONS days, many others were fond of his Hendrix-meets-Neoclassical technique anyway, some of them were tempted due to ROYAL HUNT excellent singer (ex-Yngwie Malmsteen_RING OF FIRE, too) Mark Boals' participation and - luckily - few were the ones just 'fooling around in a concert'. Not a Rock concert, in strict terms, after all, since there was this artistic approach in regards to the man's solo discography (somehow irrelevant, but needed to be said: Roth was a contemporary guitarist to Ritchie Blackmore, hence quotes stating him as influenced by Ritchie are kinda misleading, since both were godfathers of what we nowadays refer to as Neoclassical Metal).

Uli hit the stage in full smile, low profile and bursting energy for good music. Opening up with Chails Of Charon it was time for some first moving-and-shaking reaction by the good-mood crowd. His band stayed adequate for the whole evening (some minor mistakes should not prevent a thumbs up! recital) and it was noteworthy that Uli himself gave them 'space' to perform in their foreground when a song part requested so. Mark Boals and Liz Vandall (ex-SAHARA) hit the stage to perform a string of songs from Uli's latest notable studio release, Under A Dark Sky. An ambitious project, overall of great quality and rather hard to be performed live.

Still, the majesty of Mark, the personality of Liz (they cooperated really well, in general) and the striking persona_playing of Uli set the standards high and - judging from the warm reaction of the spectators and the standing in awe attention of the arena when Uli did his thing with his tremolo, his effects, his velvet sound and his celestial attitude - things rolled rather smoothly on benefit of the crowd gazing.

Listening to songs like Land Of Dawn, The Magic Word, Stay In The Light and the Tanz In Die Dammerung 10-minute-plus epos it was time for a 'keys_bass_drums solos' break, so as the composer and the singers should rest off a while. Not late enough, the band was back in action and there the 'Rock' dimension took off. One by one, great SCORPIONS 70s classics did we hear by this impressive axeman in the next one hour and more. Fly To The Rainbow, We'll Burn The Sky (g-r-e-a-t singing by Liz), Polar Nights, Dark Lady, Pictured Life (a non-typical encore started here, lasting for nearly an hour...wow...), Catch Your Train...

...Yellow Raven (Uli stated this was possibly the world premiere for this song performed live ever!), Life's Like A River (Mark forgot half the lyrics but SCORPIONS maniacs took over in the front rows, haha!), Sun In My Hand (rare!), In Trance (did not dig Liz's performance in this one, though) and I've Got to Be Free. Well, if you think you'd ever hear the majority of these songs performed now by SCORPIONS themselves...that's an add-on value going to an Ulrich Roth (real name) gig, you see!

Finishing us off with a Jimi Hendrix tribute (All Along The Watchtower, Little Wing etc) it was nearly three hours of performance rolling on, in generally good_distinct sound (not to forget). The crowd asked for even more - again - but it was really time for some rest. Uli Jon Roth truly gave us much more than expected. Would write on for hours...thanx Uli, really glad you still make_perform music from the heart.

(photos by the undead)

Uli Jon Roth